December Holidays

Happy Hanukkah! This year, Chanukah begins at sunset on Sunday, December 22^nd and ends at sunset on Monday, December 30^th. Hanukkah is also known as the Festival of Light. It is a Jewish holiday that lasts eight days and celebrates the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight nights when it was only supposed to last for one night. Chanukah is a Hebrew word that means dedication. Its pronunciation is translated to English in several different ways. To wish someone a Happy Hanukkah, say “Hanukkah Sameach!” (Happy Hanukkah) or simply “Chag Sameach!” (Happy Holiday). Or if you want to show off your Hebrew skills, say “Chag Urim Sameach!” (urim means “lights”.)

What is the history of Hanukkah?

During the second century B.C., a Jewish group known as the Maccabees revolted against their Greek Syrian oppressors, who desecrated their holy Second Temple in Jerusalem.

The Hanukkah Miracle

According to legend, the Jews were rededicating the Second Temple after the war. They only had enough oil to light their candles for a single day, but the flames continued flickering for eight nights, leaving them time to find a fresh supply. This wondrous event inspired the Jewish sages to proclaim a yearly eight-day festival.

For each of the eight nights, Jews light the candles on the menorah to commemorate the oil that lasted for eight nights.

In another allusion to the Hanukkah miracle, traditional Hanukkah foods are fried in oil. Potato pancakes (known as latkes) and jam-filled donuts (sufganiyot) are particularly popular in many Jewish households. Other Hanukkah customs include playing with four-sided spinning tops called dreidels and exchanging gifts. If you’d like to take part in the Hanukkah tradition, here is a latke recipe you can make at home.

Dreidel is a popular Hanukkah tradition. Some say that Jews played with the dreidel in order to fool the Greeks if they were caught studying Torah, which had been outlawed. It has also been said that the four letters on the dreidel, nun, gimmel, hey, shin, stand for nes gadol haya sham “a great miracle happened there,” while in Israel the dreidel says nun, gimmel, hey, pey for “a great miracle happened here.”

To play, get together some friends, a dreidel, gelt (chocolate coins), and some friends. If you don’t have a dreidel, you can also play on Google!

Hanukkah Music

• The Maccabeats - Candlelight
• Hannukkah Oh Hanukkah
• The Dreidel Song
• Adam Sandler - Hanukkah Song

Merry Christmas!

Hanukkah/Chanukah

December 25th, 2019

The holiday of Christmas begins with the season of Advent, starting four Sundays before December 25th. Advent means ‘coming’, as it is the season of waiting and preparing for the birth of Christ. Many people who celebrate Christmas light candles in an Advent wreath on each Sunday during the season or attend extra church services on Wednesdays. Children and adults open Advent calendars, usually filled with chocolate squares, every day during the season. These are readily available at most grocery stores during December.

Many families will put up a Christmas tree during this time, some as early as the day after Thanksgiving and some as late as Christmas Eve. Some have a tradition of cutting down their own tree every year! The trees are decorated with strings of lights and ornaments, and tinsel or garlands are strung over bannisters and windows. Christmas stockings filled with small presents are hung by the fireplace or on coat hooks, and some set up a small nativity scene at the base of the tree or on a table nearby.

On Christmas Eve, many people go to church for a special service, with a children’s pageant acting out the Nativity scene and the arrival of the three wise men who bring gifts to the baby Jesus. Some families will open a handful of presents or the Christmas stockings before going to bed, with the rest of the presents to follow in the morning. Like Thanksgiving, there is a big dinner on Christmas Day with a centerpiece of turkey, ham or lamb.

The Christmas season lasts for twelve days until Epiphany, January 6th, the traditional date of the wise men’s arrival in Bethlehem. By now, most of the trees have been taken out to the curb for removal and the lights and decorations put away.